Alongside the release of a new one-shot comic, Timeless #1, on sale in comic shops now, hinting at the return of Miracleman, US comics publisher Marvel has announced plans to publish a Miracleman Omnibus in September 2022.

The announced Omnibus will not include the Miracleman stories created after Alan Moore’s departure from the book by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham – but read on to find out why.

Timeless #1, by writer Jed MacKay and artists Kev Walker, Mark Bagley, and Greg Land, teases the return of “legendary” Super Hero Miracleman, in a special year-ending adventure that gives portents as to what is to come in the Marvel Universe over the next twelve months.

The story centres on longtime Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror, a warrior, a destroyer, a subjugator – but even he is subject to the whims and vicissitudes of time itself. So when a parallel timeline threatens to overwrite the future Kang has fought so long and so hard to control, the master of the ages has no choice but to go to war with time itself, battling through days of tomorrow as he struggles to prevent the end of what is to come, in a story featuring all the major players in the Marvel pantheon.

A Potted History of Miracleman

Marvel has made no secret of the fact of Miracleman’s potential return in promoting the story, a character originally created as Marvelman, by British writer and artist Mick Anglo in 1954, published by Britain’s L. Miller & Son, Ltd., as a replacement for US publisher Fawcett’s version of Captain Marvel, whose tales had been discontinued because of a lawsuit from DC Comics, who subsequently took full control of that character, renaming him Shazam to avoid conflict with Marvel Comics.

Anglo’s Marvelman, who had similar body-swapping powers to Captain Marvel, proved a popular replacement to Captain Marvel for several years. But it was his revival in the 1980s, by Alan Moore and Garry Leach and, later, Alan Davis, who brought the character to the attention of superhero fans in both sides of the Atlantic – and whose darker tales, his origins reinvented, that had lasting influence on the genre, pre-dating Watchmen, created by Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Initially appearing in the pages of Warrior magazine, edited by Dez Skinn, a British comics anthology that ran for 26 issues between March 1982 and January 1985, published by Quality Communications, Marvelman was then reprinted by US publisher Eclipse. They coloured and re-sized the stories, and published new stories of the character from August 1985 onwards, but now known as Miracleman to avoid problems with Marvel Comics, his story then taken up by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham.

From there, the dark story of the immensely powerful super-being got mired in a protracted ownership battle, best documented in Poisoned Chalice: The Extremely Long and Incredibly Complex Story of Marvelman by Pádraig Ó Méalóid, but to cut a long story short, Marvel Comics ultimately acquired rights to the character in 2013, and subsequently reprinted all of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman’s stories, but plans for further stories then ground to a halt.

Any problems that have impacted the continuation of Miracleman / Marvelman’s adventures appears to have been resolved. Bleeding Cool reports Neil and Mark have completed four new issues of Miracleman, taking them up to the conclusion of the ‘Miracleman: The Silver Age’ storyline and beyond into ‘Miracleman: The Dark Age’.

Presumably, these new stories, and those by Neil and Mark running from the Eclipse series of Miracleman #17 will be the focus of a separate collection in due course.

(Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool also suggests that whatever new Miracleman Marvel Comics publishes, Donny Cates will be writing it – and theorises, too, that a movie may well be in the works).

The Miracleman Omnibus

Now, in honour of the 40th anniversary of Miracleman’s groundbreaking reinvention, Marvel has announced a brand-new Miracleman Omnibus, a collection that will house the influential work on the character “from all of its legendary creators such as Alan Davis, Garry Leach, John Totleben, and more”. (A cunning way to allude to Alan Moore’s involvement in pre marketing, who has long requested his name not feature in any credits).

Fans and comic book history aficionados will finally get a chance to uncover Miracleman’s origins, his incredible feats and the everyday struggles of his alter-ego, freelance reporter Michael Moran, who must reconcile his life as the lesser half of a god in glorious Omnibus format.

“Considered one of the medium’s greatest masterpieces, Miracleman’s adventures launched a new wave of comic book storytelling and its extraordinary impact on the Super Hero genre is still felt to this day,” say Marvel.

So, What’s the Story?

Middle-aged reporter Michael Moran always knew he was meant for something more. When an unexpected series of events leads him to reclaim his destiny, Miracleman is reborn. But Miracleman’s return threatens unravel Moran’s life. Their connections to Dr. Emil Gargunza and Project Zarathustra bring with them disturbing revelations and trigger the return of a childhood friend who, beneath his sinister smile, has become something terrifying. Pushing the concept of the Super Hero to its logical conclusion, Miracleman is nothing short of a revelation.

What’s in the Miracleman Omnibus?

This first-ever hardcover Omnibus edition, complete with a massive trove of covers, original artwork and rare features, will include material from Warrior (1982) #1-18, #20-21, Miracleman (1985) #1, #3, #6-16, the Marvelman Special (1984) 1, material from A1 (1989) #1, and All-New Miracleman Annual (2014) #1, which featured a Grant Morrison story written at the time of Moore’s run but not illustrated until 2014, and a story by Pete Milligan, which was was new at time of publication.

As noted above, the Omnibus will not include any stories published post-Alan Moore’s run as writer.

There will be at least two direct market exclusive covers those revealed so far featuring artwork by Garry Leach, and Kevin Nowlan. Not yet revealed is an all-new main cover by Alan Davis.

The Miracleman Omnibus is due to be published in September 2022.

MIRACLEMAN OMNIBUS HC
Cover by ALAN DAVIS
DM Variant Cover by KEVIN NOWLAN
DM Classic Cover by GARRY LEACH

• More about Timeless #1, including all variant covers, on sale now in all good comic shops, here on Marvel.com

• Still available: Miracleman Book One: The Golden Age Hardcover AmazonUK Affiliate Link)

Awarding-winning writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman) and artist Mark Buckingham (Fables) unveil Miracleman’s Golden Age. Atop Olympus, Miracleman presides over a brave new world forged from London’s destruction. It is a world free of war, of famine, of poverty – but is mankind ready for it? Do we even want it? Is there a place for humanity in a world of gods? Gaiman and Buckingham delve into the lives of lonely idealists, rebellious schoolchildren and fracturing families, exploring the human constant in a changing world of gods and miracles. Collecting Miracleman #1-6.

• Wikipedia page on Miracleman /Marvelman

• Wikipedia page on Captain Marvel (Shazam)

• Poisoned Chalice: The Extremely Long and Incredibly Complex Story of Marvelman by Pádraig Ó Méalóid (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)

• Not to be confused with: The Sentry, created by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee with uncredited conceptual contributions by Rick Veitch

This article was updated on Thursday 6th January 2022 to reflect information about new Miracleman stories by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics

Tags: Alan Davis, Alan Moore, downthetubes News, Eclipse, Garry Leach, Mark Buckingham, Marvel Comics, Mick Anglo, Miracleman, Miracleman Omnibus, Neil Gaiman, Superhero Comics, Warrior